The Lights by the Kitchen Window
One day, standing in my kitchen, I saw a light flare in the sky.
I thought it was a plane. After a few ordinary routines, washing dishes and moving through the room, thirty or thirty five minutes later I looked up again.
The light was still there.
Weird, I thought.
That night, I looked it up and learned it was Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. From there I learned about Capella, Rigel, and then the planets.
Jupiter was easy. You can see it with the naked eye.
Venus too, in the early morning. Mars sometimes. You can usually tell it is Mars by its reddish hue, provided the sky is clear.
Years later, a friend showed me a stargazing app. I was suddenly able to confirm what I was seeing instead of guessing. I could tell exactly where the stars and planets were. So utterly amazing. The sky has its own culture, its own feast, its own lights.
But somewhere among all that, a story brewed.
A Story Brewed in Neptune
I am writing a new short story set there. Yes, that far away, approximately 2.8 billion miles from Earth. The distance varies as Earth and Neptune move through their orbits. At other times, they are more than a billion miles farther apart.
I think I like writing short stories. This story is set not only far away, but far in the future as well. It is called The Train to Kutenai, Neptune. While researching Neptune, I found several things that fascinated me.
Here are some facts I thought were interesting.
Neptune’s Massive Size
Neptune‘s size fascinated me. It is truly massive compared to Earth. You could fit nearly 60 Earths inside of it. It is hard to imagine something that big.
The Violent Storms
There are actually storms taking place there. It looks calm in pictures, but it is not just a quiet ball of ice. It is active. The winds are actually the fastest in the solar system.
The Breathtaking Beauty
It is really breathtakingly beautiful. The blue color is so deep and vivid. It looks like a gem floating in the dark.
The Void of Life
What struck me most is that it is sad no one lives there. At least all the articles about it I read or info I heard and read that is what they said. It is such a vast, beautiful place, and it feels sad that it is void of life.
But in my story, the place is filled with life and my characters live there. Stay tuned…for some ride on the tracks.